• reservations
• schedules
• pricing
• contact us
• directions

WHAT KINDS OF WHALES WILL WE SEE?

Whales are spotted on over 99% of our trips. While the number of whales spotted varies from day to day (and year to year), the biologically rich waters of Stellwagen Bank and Jeffrey's Ledge are one of the few areas on Earth where you can be almost certain of seeing at least a few large, endangered whales on just a half-day whale watch.

Here are just a few of the 14 species that we have seen on our whale watches:

HUMPBACK WHALES : Common (seen on 75-99% of trips)

The whales most commonly sighted off our coast are HUMPBACK WHALES, also called "the singing whales", which range in size from 35 up to 55 feet in length. Humpback whales are seen along the New England coast from March through November.  

They spend the Summer primarily feeding but are also seen to engaging in other behaviors such as breaching (leaping out of the water), flipper-slapping, tail-breaching, and tail-lobbing. These amazing surface active behaviors have made the Humpback Whale a favorite amongst whale watchers.

FINBACK WHALES : Common (seen on 75-99% of trips)

The Finback or "Fin Whale" is the second largest animal ever to have lived on Earth; bigger even than any of the Dinosaurs.  The longest Fin Whale ever recorded was an adult female that measured 89 feet in length!  

Despite their great size Fin Whales are very fast and agile animals.  They have been nicknamed "The Greyhound of the Sea" because they can cruise at close to 30 miles per hour!  

Fin Whales are also amongst the most beautifully colored of all whales.  They have an "asymetrical" color pattern where the left side of the animal is a very dark gray, while the right side is much lighter gray or even white!  The dark and light coloration blends together in a swirling pattern called a "chevron".  The chevron of each Fin whale is slightly different allowing us to recognize individual whales in the area.

OTHER WHALES  

Other whale species regularly seen on whale watches from Massachusetts include MINKE WHALES (very common, seen most trips), RIGHT WHALES (rare but regular, usually seen 3-4 times per year), PILOT WHALES (rare, seen multiple times in some years, not at all in others) and ATLANTIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS (uncommon, seen 15-25% of trips.)

On very rare occasions we may sight a BLUE WHALE, SEI WHALES, SPERM WHALES, BELUGAS, and different species of DOLPHINS.

To learn MUCH more about any of these whales just click on select from the menu below: